Presented by Backwoods until the 22nd of November 2015 at Gallery 5 (5 Easey St, Collingwood VIC 3066).

Installation Photo courtesy of Backwoods Gallery.

Guy Mathews art combines dying art of signwriting and abstract expressionism with a good dose of the industrial design. The result is an engaging painterly body of work that straddles different stylistic traditions called bricolage. Guy experiences as an antique dealer had granted him a keen eye for interesting and quirky artifacts. This has allowed Guy to gather antique signs that would be rejected traditional as a transient object and transform them into lovingly crafted tablets with industrial inspired finish.

I recently visited the Craft pop up shop in the Melbourne Town Hall (90-120 Swanston St, Melbourne VIC 3000), 'featuring the works of Australia's leading craftspeople and emerging talent'. Craft Victoria is the hub for contemporary craft and design. I really liked the creativity and quirkiness the craftspeople put into their work and it is always wonderful to suport other local creatives.

The Koorie Heritage Trust have a new home at Federation Square (Levels 1&3, Yarra Building, Federation Square, Corner of Flinders and Swanston Streets, Melbourne Vic 3000) and celebrate their 30th birthday with an exhibition 'Wominjeka – A New Beginning' (19 Sep – 22 Nov 15).

"The exhibition shows the work of five early career artists, exhibited alongside pieces from the Trust's collection that have been the muse for their own artistic expression and stories." The five artists are Aunty Marlene Gilson, Georgia MacGuire, Mitch Mahoney, Josh Muir and Raymond Young. "Working with mentors, these artists have created new works in response to selected items from our collections."

As an artist, being collected by one of the major Australian Galleries is a dream of mine, so when I received the email that 'Art & Artists Blog' was going to be achived by The National Gallery of Australia Research Library and Archives, I was over the moon.

There has been some changes recently here with some new writers and I have a few more changes come soon so it is great that you will be able to see the changes over time. Click here for my achive page.